This is the discussion paper I presented at #UCU Higher Education Committee yesterday on teaching-only and teaching-focused T&Cs. Great feedback from HEC members, and the accompanying HESC motion passed unanimously! Pls use link below to share with anyone who may be interested.
Really useful, unifying paper and lovely to see the motion to HESC approved unanimously by our HEC. So much more of this, please! #UCU
Always worth a reminder.
As Trump’s war in Iran sends energy costs skyrocketing, Reform UK are cheering him on.
Backing an unlawful war abroad while ignoring its costs at home shows just how out of touch Farage is.
While Reform are licking Trump’s boots, Plaid Cymru will focus on the cost of living.
The @ucucommons.org slate has done exceptionally well in the NEC elections.
We need to encourage greater engagement with these elections, but this is a solid endorsement of our principles from our members.
Is it a special military operation?
Very few places in America have parking meters - usually only in commercial places. Residential areas even in city centres have free parking. Most such areas though have street parking reserved for residents, displayed by a residents permit that can be bought from the city for a nominal annual cost
Text reads: I am humbled and excited to be elected the next UCU Vice-President for Higher Education. Now is a devastatingly difficult and challenging time for our sectors and so many workers in post-16 education, but as a union we cannot succumb to despair. We have the skills, knowledge and capacity to help chart a way out of this mess and restore higher and further education. That you have put your trust in me to help do that is a huge honour and responsibility. I do not take this lightly. Thank you to the many thousands of members who voted for me and also to those who did not – we need to build better engagement in our union and part of that is voting, no matter who you voted for. I promised in my election materials to work hard to bring our union together and that is what I will do.
Text reads: Thank you to the other HE candidates Sean and Steve, both committed trade unionists. I know they will continue to fight for members and the future of Higher Education and I look forward to doing that alongside them. Congratulations to those elected to the National Executive Committee and commiserations to those who missed out this time. Your willingness to put yourself forward for election is hugely valued and I know you all will continue to contribute in other ways. So what next? Until the end of May, I’ll be tying up some loose ends and taking some time off to visit family and friends back in Australia. I will take up my role after UCU’s annual Congress at the end of May, this year in Harrogate.
Text reads: For the following three years, I will be lead negotiator for pay and conditions and for USS pensions across UK Higher Education, working with our team of elected negotiators and officials. I will also chair UCU’s Higher Education Committee and HE sector conferences, serve on other national committees and represent you in various forums. In 2029-30 I will become UCU’s President after the excellent Suzi Toole, who has also been elected as Vice-President for Further Education and will spend two years leading on further education matters before becoming President. She will take over from Dyfrig Jones, who succeeds early to the Presidential role for a two-year term this May, due to the casual vacancy that arose last year, replacing Maria Chondrogianni. Maria stays on as immediate past president, rounding out the presidential team. I want to again acknowledge David Hunter who stepped down as President-Elect last year for health reasons and continue to wish him and his family all the best.
A picture of two smiling people (Suzi Toole and Mark Pendleton) wearing UCU beanies. Text reads: That’s a lot of work, and a lot of moving parts, but at the heart of it will be my commitment to build a better union, alongside members and branches, and through that transform our sectors. I am ready and I know from the responses to this election that many of you are too. I’m looking forward to getting to work, together with you all.
UCU’s elections concluded this week and I am honoured to have been elected as the next Vice-President for Higher Education, to become President in 2029-30.
Thank you for all the support.
A short statement about the election and what’s to come after I take up the role in May.
I haven't done detailed numbers, but I think it's a slim majority for UCU Commons + Campaign for UCU Democracy + Independents on the HEC
I think NEC may be slightly closer. But as far as votes go, it will always come down to who turns up on the day.
Asynchronous voting remains the dream
I have been through Reform's manifesto for Wales so you don't have to.
(Spoiler, there are a lot of holes in it)
willhaywardwales.substack.com/p/scrutinisi...
Congratulations @markpendleton.bsky.social & @suzitoole.bsky.social for smashing the UCU Vice-President (HE & FE) election!
Overall results are great. EVERY single @ucucommons.org candidate was elected, as were the vast majority of candidates we endorsed!
Forward! 💪
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1419...
QuitGPT. I've switched to Claude.ai myself
GRN + LDM + SNP + LAB + PLC = 335
That's enough to form a government and pass legislation to enact proportional representation.
May this hold 🙏
Well, no, they’re not just as wrong. The bigger error is not seeing that “trying to win over voters from a party on the opposite end of the spectrum, whose values your core voters oppose” is not same as “chasing voters from party on same side ideologically whose values your core voters like.”
Welsh icon Michael Sheen has declared his support for Plaid Cymru ahead of May's Senedd election, saying the country is undergoing a ‘huge transformation’
Suspect May is going to be a happy time to be Green. Or Plaid. Or SNP. Or LD. Or anyone on the left except Labour really
As a person who is looking forward a Plaid Cymru government in May, I'm not complaining.
As I said, Starmer is the gift that keeps on giving.
Becoming more and more obvious that the problem wasn't McSweeney. It's Starmer himself.
For other progressive parties in Britain, Starmer is the gift that keeps on giving
Labour under Starmer, Reeves, Mahmood told progressives, "if you don't like that we're trying to out-Reform Reform, then you can just fuck off"
And that's exactly what progressives did. To Plaid Cymru in Wales & the Greens in England.
In Scotland, Labour may finish 4th behind the Scottish Greens 👌
The takeaway is clear. Labour are not only bereft of ideas to improve people's lives, they are NOT the party to beat Reform no matter how much they claim to be
In Wales, it's crystal clear that Plaid Cymru are the party with the policies to improve people's lives and send Reform back home to Russia
Wouldn't it be amazing if we had a system where people could just vote for the parties they most like, rather than to stop the party they most hate?
First Past the Post needs to be put out of its misery.
In #Caerphilly we saw Labour lose the majority of its vote to Plaid Cymru
In Gorton & Denton:
1. Assume CON vote 6% transferred cleanly to RFM
2. Assume WPB vote 10% & LDM vote 2% transferred cleanly to GRN
Nearly twice the vote went from LAB to GRN (15.5%) than LAB to RFM (8.5%)
Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, and Shabana Mahmood right now: we need to be even more racist and anti-immigrant, and suck up to billionaires. Maybe then we can take some votes off of Reform and finish second! 🤦♂️🤡
In Wales, we have proportional representation for this election, but it is the worst possible option because Labour opposed single transferable vote and viewed the current system as the best one to retain a lock on power. Ironically, they now risk being shut out due to their own system.
This is both sidesing the argument a bit. Labour is the only party that is unwilling to work with others.
Labour are in a position to bring in proportional representation today, but they refuse to do so because they view their best prospect of staying in power as pushing this two choice narrative.
Agree with Jonn on this - it is a monumentally stupid strategy which will only enrage those who find the Greens appealing, most likely increasing losses and making it harder to win back those who have switched.
So the management decision is to restructure with the aim of cutting academic jobs in East Asian Studies.
This decision is based on a false narrative of decline and financial unsustainability, despite management’s own figures showing that we continue to generate well in excess of our costs.
This is a massive shift which would upend the lives of millions - not just the nearly half million directly threatened but their families. It would abandon a basic principle of law that changes are not retrospectively applied.
This is really interesting.
These word clouds from a recent @moreincommonuk.bsky.social looking at Wales.
It lists the 16 words most associated with Labour, Plaid, the Tories and Reform.
There is a lot to say on this.
For the full analysis see the link in comments.
